Drugs used to treat cancer may also help fight HIV, according to an Australian study. AIDS and HIV

A new study jointly conducted by Professor Sharon Lewin, director of the Doherty Institute, could show that drugs used to treat cancer could pull HIV out of hibernation, expose the virus to the immune system, and make it more vulnerable to attack. I found that there is.

Even if you are on antiretroviral therapy and your blood contains undetectable amounts of the virus, the ability of HIV to “hidden” inside the cells is an important barrier to finding a cure for the disease. It is one of.

HIV patients receiving antiretroviral treatment do not have the opportunity to take over and can lead a normal and healthy life, but the virus is not completely eliminated from the cells.

This is because the HIV reservoir is “hidden” in the hibernating state of immune system cells. To destroy the virus, these cells need help from killer T cells. However, these T cells cannot detect and find hidden HIV and therefore cannot kill it.

In cancer patients, killer T cells become dysfunctional and develop a consumable protein on the surface called PD1. A previous study by Lewin found that PD1 is the same depletion marker that allows HIV to hide inside cells.

Pembrolizumab, an intravenous immunotherapeutic drug, blocks these wasting markers in cancer patients and allows killer T cells to regain function and fight cancer. Anti-PD1 drugs have revolutionized the treatment of several cancers, including melanoma.

A barrier in testing the treatment of HIV patients is that pembrolizumab can cause serious side effects.

“5-10% of people will have adverse events from pembrolizumab,” Ruwin said. “In a cancer situation, this is not a big problem because there are life-threatening illnesses, but in HIV the situation is very different. People can now live a normal and healthy life with HIV, so treatment Intervention for must be very low toxicity. “

However, Lewin and her team were able to test pembrolizumab against the virus by administering pembrolizumab to 32 people living with HIV but suffering from cancer. They found that the drug had anti-PD1 properties against HIV. Their findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on Thursday.

So far, there have been only individual case reports showing the effects of anti-PD1. This is because it is very rare for HIV patients to also need treatment for their cancer. Although other treatments have been shown to reverse the incubation period of HIV, anti-PD1 may enhance the immune response.

“So it’s like you have a two-in-one drug,” Ruwin said.

Lewin’s study proved the notion that the drug can reverse the incubation period of HIV patients, but whether anti-PD1 boosts the immune system enough to attack and destroy HIV is her. Form the next part of the work.

“Can anti-PD1 be used in combination with other drugs to further enhance the immune system? [drugs] To get a bigger effect? And the most important thing to consider now is how to safely administer anti-PD1 to people who are infected with HIV but do not have cancer. “Lewin said. “That’s the research we’re about to undertake.”

Stuart Turville, an associate professor and virologist at the Kirby Institute’s Immunovirology and Pathogenesis Program at the University of New South Wales, said Lewin’s team was an incubation reversing agent (basically a compound that could awaken the virus). He said he was known for investigating.

“It’s normal for our immune system to be resting,” he said. HIV takes advantage of this. It enters resting cells and in doing so stays there for years.

“In this study of HIV cancer patients, we used state-of-the-art molecular technology developed to analyze HIV reservoirs with high sensitivity and observed that the virus awakens when PD1 inhibitors are administered. .. [a] Fine level. “

He believes this study shows that “this treatment and other similar treatments may pave the way for practical HIV treatment.”

While existing treatments for HIV are safe and effective and lead to good health, Lewin says that while treatments are lifelong and not available to everyone, working on treatments remains. Said it was important.

“70% of people worldwide are available for treatment, and lifelong access to antiretroviral treatment is not guaranteed to everyone, which is a real challenge to the world,” she said. rice field. “There are 1.8 million new HIV infections each year, and the pool of people will grow bigger and bigger. That’s why we need treatment as well as treatment.

“I think anti-PD1 will eventually be part of a multifaceted intervention, but I think it’s very unlikely that a single drug or intervention will cure HIV.”